The Newark Riots began 50 years ago today — here's why they still matter

A National Guard officer passes the smashed window of a black-owned flower shop in riot-torn Newark, N.J., in this July 15, 1967, file photo.
Associated Press
Fifty years ago, the city of Newark, New Jersey experienced a string of violent riots after two white police officers stopped and beat up a black taxi driver on July 12 in a community that had suffered decades of social frustration caused by poverty and racial profiling.

While more than half a century has passed, many of the issues at the heart of the protests continue to divide the country today.

Here's how the riots started, how the police responded, and how it set the stage for the future police brutality protests.

In the late 1960s, Newark was suffering from high poverty rates, lack of good job opportunities, and chronically underfunded schools. The largely African American population was also dealing with police profiling and lack of political representation.

While many picketed peacefully, others smashed windows and threw firebombs. Looters also tried to take advantage of the unrest by breaking into supermarkets and liquor stores.

A few hours into the riot, state troopers and the army stepped in. Some accounts said that the law enforcement officers (who were given instructions to "fire if necessary") abused the rioters.

National Guardsmen arrive near Newark’s Branch Brook Park where a volley of sniper fire brought hundreds of police, state police and military converging on the scene in Newark, N.J.
Marty Lederhandler (Associated Press)

“It was like a war scene," recalled Fred Means, an activist who witnessed the riots unfold. "There was that fear, there was that possibility, that the police would shoot you and nothing would happen — much the same as what happens today.”

Blacks are searched at a bayonet point by National Guardsmen in Newark, New Jersey, July 17, 1967.
Eddie Adams (Associated Press)

Many felt that, rather than protecting residents, state troopers instead created an atmosphere of fear.

While the riots eventually subsided, frustration with law enforcement persisted — and, in many ways, set the tone for many police brutality protests to come.

Pickets calling for the removal of National Guard troops from riot-ridden Newark march near Newark City Hall, July 16, 1967.
Associated Press

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Though different administrations took a range of steps toward combatting chronic underfunding of city services, many of the same problems with poverty and racial inequities continue into the present day.

In a July 14, 1967 file photo, left, firefighters battle a blaze on Broad Street near Branford Place in Newark, N.J., where four days of deadly violence and looting came to be known as the Newark riots.
Associated Press

In the coming days, various New Jersey politicians will be commemorating the site of the original riots. "We need to have a discussion about why these things happen and why they keep happening," Newark mayor Ras Baraka told NPR.

In this June 28, 2017 photo, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka talks to a reporter about the Newark riots fifty years ago, in Newark, N.J.
Seth Wenig (Associated Press)